SC upholds power of arrest of customs, GST authoritiesGSTDated:- 27-2-2025PTINew Delhi, Feb 27 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the constitutional validity of the power of arrest under the amended laws of customs and the central goods and servic
SC upholds power of arrest of customs, GST authorities
GST
Dated:- 27-2-2025
PTI
New Delhi, Feb 27 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the constitutional validity of the power of arrest under the amended laws of customs and the central goods and services tax (GST).
A bench of Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justices M M Sundresh and Bela M Trivedi said in appropriate cases, application for pre-arrest bail could be allowed and it was not essential for such pleas to be moved only after an FIR when facts were clear and a reasonable basis present to apprehend arrest.
About 280 pleas, including one of lead petitioner Radhika Agarwal in 2018, challenged the provisions of the Customs Act and the GST Act being “non compatible” with the CrPC and the Constitution.
Writing a 63-page judgement for himself and Justice Sundresh, the CJI held, “The challenge to the constitutional validity as also the right of the authorised officers under the Customs Act and the GST Act to ar
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tatutory authority to investigate and arrest offenders under the relevant laws.
The bench was dealing with the validity of the amended provisions of the Customs Act and the GST Act post its 2011 judgement in the case of Om Prakash v. Union of India.
The 2011 verdict held that offences under the Customs Act and the Central Excise Act, 1944 were non-cognisable and, therefore, even if the officers, who had the power to arrest, could do so only after obtaining a warrant from the magistrate under CrPC.
The amendments were later brought in Section 104 of the Customs Act which specified certain offences as cognisable offences and empowered the officers to effect arrest in certain cases.
“The amendments made to the Customs Act in 2012, 2013 and 2019 are substantive and were introduced to effectively modify the application of Om Prakash, which required a customs officer to obtain prior approval from a magistrate before making an arrest,” the top court said.
The CJI said the amendments
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the amendments as well as provisions of the Customs Act. Reliance placed by the petitioners on the decision of this court in Om Prakash is misconceived as the statutory provisions have undergone amendments to bring them in consonance with the law of the land. Moreover, the provisions themselves provide enough safeguards against arbitrary and wrongful arrests,” it said.
In the GST Act of 2017, the government provided the power of arrest in certain cases.
On the challenge to the GST Act provisions over power to arrest and summon, the bench did not agree to the submissions that the Centre lacked “legislative competence”.
It was argued that Article 246A of the Constitution while conferring legislative powers on Parliament and state legislatures to levy and collect GST, did not explicitly authorise the violations to be made criminal offences.
The bench disagreed and said, “Article 246A of the Constitution is a special provision defining the source of power and the field of legislati
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